Edozie Udeojo,Abuja
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Friday denied any link with companies appointed by his office to recover debt owed the federal government by International Oil Companies (IOC).
Malami’s denial which was contained in a statement by his media aide, Dr Umar Gwandu, noted that the recovery agents though engaged by his office were for the federal government and not his agents as being portrayed by some sections of the if media.
According to the statement, the Minister in his personal capacity does not have personal “debt collectors” for the recovery of federal government debts.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Office of the Attorney-General andMinister of Justice does not engage recovery agents based on projectedpersonal gratification or individual’s inclinations”, Gwandu said.
He stressed that all those engaged by the federal government for undertaking certain tasks in the recovery of assets and generation of revenues belonging to the government did not belong to the AGF, adding that such engagements were purely based on the interest of the general public as a guiding principle.
The Minister reiterated his stance that engagement of recovery agents was neither propelled by any ulterior motive nor about gratification of any personal desire through any percentage to be given to or by the recovery agent, but of an unflinching patriotic commitment to get backto the country the revenue it deserves.
“It is the same federal government that engaged the Trobell in the recovery of the unpaid federal government revenue that asked the agency to step down based on the stakeholders meeting held.”